46 Bible Verses about Zeal

He came to the cave there and spent the night there. Suddenly the [word] of Yahweh came to him and asked him, "{Elijah, what are you doing here}?" Then he said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant. They have demolished your altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left over, and they seek to take my life.

When Israel dwelled in Shittim, the people began to prostitute [themselves] with the daughters of Moab. And they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and worshiped their gods. So Israel was joined together to Baal Peor, and {Yahweh became angry} with Israel.read more.
Yahweh said to Moses, "Take all {the leaders} of the people and kill them before the sun, so the fierce anger of Yahweh will turn from Israel." So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each [of you] kill his men who are joined together with Baal Peor." And behold, a man from the {Israelites} came and brought to his brothers Midianite woman before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of all of the community of the {Israelites}, and they [were] weeping [at] the doorway of the tent of assembly. When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest saw, he got up from the midst of the community and took a spear in his hand. He went after the man of Israel into the woman's section of the tent, and he drove the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, into her belly. And the plague among the {Israelites} stopped. The ones who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, turned away my anger from among the {Israelites} when he was jealous with my jealousy in their midst, and I did not destroy the {Israelites} with my jealousy. Therefore say, 'Behold, I [am] giving to him my covenant of peace, and it will be for him and his {offspring} after him a covenant of an eternal priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the {Israelites}.'"

It happened at the moment Elijah heard, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood [at] the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice [came] to him and said, "{Elijah, why are you here}?" He said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of Hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant, demolished your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!"

Next he went from there and found Jehonadab the son of Recab to meet him. He greeted him and asked him, "{Is your heart right with me as my heart is with you}?" Then Jehonadab said, "Yes, it is. Give your hand!" And he gave his hand and took him up to him on the chariot. Then he said, "Come with me! Look at my zeal for Yahweh!" So he let him ride in his chariot. Then he came to Samaria and killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria until he wiped them out according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to Elijah.read more.
Then Jehu assembled all of the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will worship him greatly. So then, summon to me all of the prophets of Baal and all of his servants and his priests; no man should fail to come, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come shall not live!" Now Jehu was acting with cunning in order to destroy the servants of Baal. Then Jehu said, "Sanctify a [solemn] assembly for Baal!" So they proclaimed [it]. Jehu sent [word] through all of Israel, and all of the servants of Baal came; there did not remain a man who did not come. They came to the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was filled from {wall to wall}. He said to the one who [was] over the wardrobe, "Bring out clothing for all of the servants of Baal." So he brought the clothing out for them. Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Recab came [to] the temple of Baal, and he said to the servants of Baal, "Search and see that there is none of the servants of Yahweh here with you; only those who serve Baal." They came to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, "The man who lets [anyone] escape from the men who I am {entrusting to you}, {he will pay with his life}!" It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, "Come and kill them; let no man go free!" So {they put them to the sword}, and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal. They brought out the stone pillars of the temple of Baal and burned {them}. So they broke down the stone pillars of Baal and destroyed the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine until this day. So Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel.

May your heart not envy the sinners, but [live] in fear of Yahweh {all day}.

Because on account of you I have borne reproach; disgrace has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons, because the zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me.

And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple [courts] those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated. And he made a whip of cords [and] drove [them] all out of the temple [courts], both the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.read more.
And to the ones selling the doves he said, "Take these [things] away from here! Do not make my Father's house {a marketplace}!" His disciples remembered that it is written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

not lagging in diligence, being enthusiastic in spirit, serving the Lord,

After him Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired a second section of a wall from the angle up to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

But thanks [be] to God, who has put in the heart of Titus the same devotion {on your behalf}, because he not only welcomed our request, but being very earnest, by his own choice he went out to you. And we have sent at the same time with him the brother whose praise in the gospel [has become known] throughout all the churches.read more.
And not only [this], but he was also chosen by the churches [as] our traveling companion together with this gift that is being administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself and [to show] our readiness [to help]. [We are] trying to avoid this, lest anyone should find fault with us in this abundant gift that is being administered by us. For we are taking into consideration what is honorable not only before the Lord, but also before people. And we are sending with them our brother whom we have tested many times in many [things] that he is diligent, but now much more diligent [because of his] great confidence in you.

And [when] they heard [this], they began to glorify God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many ten thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous adherents of the law.

You [are] righteous, O Yahweh, and your ordinances [are] upright. You have ordained your testimonies [in] righteousness, and [in] exceeding faithfulness. My zeal consumes me, because my enemies have forgotten your words.read more.
Your word [is] very pure, and your servant loves it. I [am] small and despised, [yet] I do not forget your precepts. Your righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness, and your law [is] truth. Trouble and anguish have found me; your commands delight me. The righteousness of your testimonies [is] forever; give me understanding that I may live.

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah.

Yahweh goes forth like a mighty warrior; he stirs up zeal like a man of war. He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout; he prevails against his foes.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, turned away my anger from among the {Israelites} when he was jealous with my jealousy in their midst, and I did not destroy the {Israelites} with my jealousy.

so that {there is not} among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe {whose heart} turns {today} from [being] with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood. And then when he hears the words of this oath, then {he will assure himself} in his heart, {saying}, '{Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart},' thereby destroying the well-watered [land] [along] with the parched. Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for [by then] the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven.read more.
And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.

For our transgressions are numerous before you, and our sins {testify} against us. Indeed, our transgressions [are] with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning {away from following} our God; speaking oppression and falsehood, conceiving and uttering words of deception from [the] heart. And justice is pushed back, and righteousness stands afar; for truth stumbles in the public square, and straightforwardness is unable to enter,read more.
and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil [is] plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice And he saw that there was no man, and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes, so his arm came to assist him, and his righteousness {was what} sustained him. And he put on righteousness like breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head, and he put on garments of vengeance [for] clothing, and he wrapped [himself in] zeal as [in a] robe. According to deeds, so he will repay; wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his {enemies}. He will repay requital to the coastlands. So they shall fear the name of Yahweh from [the] west, and his glory from the sunrise, for he will come like narrow stream; the wind of Yahweh drives it on.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look! I, {even I}, am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you before the eyes of the nations, and I will do with you [that] which I have not done, and which I will not do again, because of all of your detestable things. Therefore parents will eat children in the midst of you, and children will eat their parents, and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind.read more.
Therefore {as surely as I live}, {declares} the Lord Yahweh, {Surely} because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, {now indeed I} will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion. A third of you will die because of the plague, and because of the famine they will perish in the midst of you, and a third will fall through the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every direction of the wind, and I will draw [the] sword behind them. And my anger will come to an end, and I will place my rage on them, and I will relent, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my passion {when I fully vent my rage against them}.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{Certainly} in the fire of my passion I spoke against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who made my land as possession, because of its pastureland for plunder, for themselves in all of [the] joy of their whole heart [and] in [their] inner disdain." Therefore prophesy against the land of Israel, and you must say to the mountains and to the hills, to the river channels and to the valleys, thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I spoke in my passion and in my anger [the] insult of [the] peoples you have endured." Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{I swear} {certainly} [that] the nations {that are all around you}, they indeed will endure their disgrace.

And [so] then in that day, on the day of the coming of God against the land of Israel,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'my rage will come up in my anger. And in my passion, [in] the fire of my wrath, I spoke [that] {certainly} on that day great earthquake will be on the land of Israel. And the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven and the animals of the field and all of the creeping things that creep on the earth and all of the humans who [are] on the surface of the earth will shake {at my presence}; and the mountains will be demolished, and the steep mountain sides will fall, and every wall on the earth will fall.read more.
And I will call against him in all of my mountains a sword,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '[And] [the] sword of each [person] will be against his brother. And I will execute justice with him with a plague and with blood and {torrents of rain}, and hailstones; fire and sulfur I will cause to fall on him and on his troops and on many peoples who [are] with him. And [so] I will exalt myself, and I will show myself holy, and I will make myself known before [the] eyes of many nations, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh.'"

Yahweh, [though] your hand reaches high, they do not see [it]. Let them see, and let them be ashamed of [the] zeal of people. Indeed, let the fire of your enemies consume them.

" 'This will be the sign for you: Eat the volunteer plants for the year, and in the second year, the volunteer plants that spring up from that. But [in] the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. The remainder of the house of Judah which survives will again [take] root below and bear fruit above. For from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and survivors from Mount Zion; the zeal of Yahweh will do this.

And this [shall be] the sign for you: the eating of volunteer plants this year, and in the second year self-seeded plants, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the remnant of the house of Judah that remain shall {grow} roots downwards and make fruit upwards. For a remnant shall go out from Jerusalem and survivors from mountain Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.'

{But there will be no gloom for those who were in distress}. In former times he treated [the] land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt, but in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee [of] the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; light has shined on those who lived in a land of darkness. You have made the nation numerous; you have not made the joy great. They rejoice in your presence as [with] joy at the harvest, as they rejoice when they divide plunder.read more.
For you have shattered the yoke of its burden and the stick of its shoulder, the rod of its oppressor, on the day of Midian. For every boot {that marches and shakes the earth} and garment rolled in blood {will} be for burning--fire fuel. For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. {His dominion will grow continually, and to peace there will be no end} on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and sustain it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

Look from heaven, and see from the lofty residence of your holiness and glory. Where [are] your zeal and strength? {Your compassion} and mercy to me hold themselves back.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have compassion on all of the house of Israel, and I will be jealous for {my holy name}.

Also, a life without knowledge is not good, and he who moves quickly with [his] feet {misses the mark}.

Brothers, the desire of my heart and my prayer to God on behalf of them [is] for [their] salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For ignoring the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.read more.
For Christ [is the] end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

And if I parcel out all my possessions, and if I hand over my body in order that I will be burned, but do not have love, it benefits [me] nothing.

For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism, that to an extraordinary degree I was persecuting the church of God, and trying to destroy it, and was progressing in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my nation, [because] I was a far more zealous adherent of the traditions handed down by my forefathers.

They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they want to exclude you, in order that you may seek them [zealously]. But [it is] good to be sought zealously in good at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

according to zeal persecuting the church, according to the righteousness in the law being blameless.

And when they had entered, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying--Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James [son] of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas [son] of James.

Now these are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip, and Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector, James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot--the one who also betrayed him.

And he appointed the twelve. And to Simon he gave the name Peter, and James the [son] of Zebedee and John the brother of James (and he gave to them the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"), and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,read more.
and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Simon (whom he also named Peter) and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas [the son] of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Whatever your hand finds to do--do [it] with [all] your might; for in Sheol--where you are going--no one works, plans, knows, or thinks about anything.

In this way also you, since you are zealous of spiritual [gifts], seek for the edification of the church, in order that you may abound.

But [it is] good to be sought zealously in good at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

for which reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.

But I consider [it] right, for as long as I am in this habitation, to stir you up by a reminder,

As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. Be zealous, therefore, and repent!